We recently connected with Nhela Vehar and have shared our conversation below.

Nhela, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump into the story of starting your own firm – what should we know?

In the early days of starting my firm, I was driven by the vision of creating something unique and impactful in the accounting industry and the frustration of feeling unheard as a Black woman in corporate accounting. My business started very organically, my friend another firm owner asked me if I wanted to take on a client of hers and I enthusiastically said yes. I had a full-time job then so I worked on my business during the evenings and weekends. The main steps I had to take to establish my business included thorough research, drafting a solid business plan, going through all the fun IRS filings, and coming up with a cool name (that I eventually changed). One of the key challenges was establishing credibility and building a client base from scratch. It required a lot of networking, marketing efforts, and delivering beyond exceptional service to earn clients’ trust.
Looking back, I would have focused more on developing strong workflows and processes, before working on my first client. Workflows and processes are essential for any business. For aspiring young professionals looking to start their firm, Do it, you can always get another job. After you get the courage to start I recommend meticulously considering the end-to-end processes, seeking guidance from seasoned entrepreneurs, and preparing for the inevitable hurdles that accompany entrepreneurship.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started my career in public accounting, did I want to be an accountant when I was younger absolutely not, I wanted to be a pop star but I am not the best singer and too shy to perform a world tour. Channeling my “big sister” energy, I became an accountant. Public accounting is a great starting point, you learn so much about controls, and the standards of accounting. They also provide a lot of training and learning opportunities. I started at KPMG in the advisory practice and then moved to audit. After leaving public accounting I did a complete pivot to startups before starting my own firm.

Vehar Consulting is a client advisory service firm, we provide bookkeeping/accounting, business operations consulting, fractional CFO, and educational services. Our clients are solopreneurs, small businesses, content creators, creatives and pre-revenue startups.

At Vehar Consulting we believe in “Meeting you where you are”, If that is starting off from day one with helping establishing your LLC to helping you get your financial statements ready to pitch to investors, We believe in meeting you where you are. For us that means going above the usual client experience to help our founders understand their business financials and give them the insights to create informed decisions based on those financials. Helping them grow, mitigating risks, and saving money along the way.

We grow as you grow, that’s our motto. I want my firm to be accessible to everyone because all businesses can benefit from having an accountant. How do we do that? Pricing, My firm is a revenue-based firm, we charge a percentage of your monthly revenue. We are a flat fee firm so you know what you’ll pay month-to-month without hidden fees. We also present financial statements in writing as well as visual form providing accessibility to those who are visual learners or not familiar with traditional financial statements. We are truly committed to your growth because when you grow, we grow.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I always say I’ve lived a thousand lives. Most of them were in my early 20s. My mom passed unexpectedly when I was 21, at that age I took on the care and financial responsibility of my younger sisters. Within weeks of her death, I had moved out of my cheap college house with 6 other girls to a new apartment so my youngest sister could live with me, got a new job, a side job, and new financial responsibilities. It was an incredibly hard time however looking back on this time reminds me that I can do hard things. All of the stress and fear was learning lessons for today. It also reminds me how lucky I am to have sisters who know and understand the journey and that I wasn’t alone for any of it.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson that I am constantly working towards unlearning is the need to be “superwoman”. I am a mom, wife, sister, daughter, friend, and CEO. I take all these roles seriously but can’t give them all 100% every day. I’m learning to delegate, to take on work that is important to me and to outsource what I can. In my life as a mom, school pickups are very important to me, I love the time spent in the car talking about the day, so I do pick-ups. I do not like laundry or housework so I outsource it. In my business, I outsource marketing/branding but being the one to take the consultation calls is important to me so I block time to talk to clients. I love the soft life trends and aspire for my soft life, for me that means rest through selfcare and doing things that I love like reading a new fantasy series, traveling with my family or going on a date with my husband.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://veharconsulting.com/
• Instagram: veharconsulting
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nhelasheavehar/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/vehar-consulting-san-diego